My life in the nude

In today’s American Society, prudishness among males has reached an all time high, especially with the younger generation. Often I have been at the gym and seen men trying to change their clothes with a towel wrapped around their waist the entire time. I have seen men wear underwear to the shower and only take them off once the curtain was pulled tight and carefully arranged and put them on again before they leave the shower. At the beaches, the trunks are longer and many no longer even remove their shirts. Even with the men who like to walk around with their pants pulled down below their butts, they are wearing loose boxers underneath (I will never understand that fashion statement). Even when the temps here are in the 90’s, I look out my window and see all the young men wearing long pants and big baggy shirts.

On my table, most men strip naked and lie down on their stomachs with out using the provided towel to cover themselves. Then again, most of them are over 50 and have come there for the express reason of trying to get a sensual massage. Occasionally however I get a local college kid, who will not only use the towel but not take off their underwear. This is of course taken by me as a sign that they most definitely don’t want a sensual massage. On at least two occasions, this was not the case, the young men got erections which were noticeable when the turned over. I was planning on ignoring this but with each, as I was rubbing the belly they would reach and pull their underwear down enough to expose their dick only. I gave them each a manual release and cleaned them up, and the underwear was right back in place as I finished the massage.

This is a fairly new phenomenon in American society, even most of our fathers spent more time naked with other men than we have (OK, so I have spent more time with naked men than my father, but I live an unusual life). My grandfather used to talk about the swimming holes where he and the other men would swim naked all the time. My father was in the army and still talks about the total lack of privacy and that it seemed that he and the other men were naked at least half the time. As for myself, going to school, I remember that showers were required after gym class starting in the 7^th grade and that we had to stay in those showers until the gym instructor came in to be sure we were all in there. Though personally I had no luck in sports in high school, the times that I did participate, the guys in the locker room would talk and laugh and rough house naked for the longest time, at least it seemed so to me. And what about those famous naked parties and concerts of the 60’s?

I stated in an earlier post that I have no problems with being nude in my personal life. While I don’t live my life naked or even spend every possible moment naked, I have been home alone and done exercises naked and been involved with social naked events like naked happy hour, naked yoga and I love staying at clothing optional Bed and Breakfasts.

Doing body work naked is something I have already discussed both the pros and the cons. What I want to discuss today is the effect that can have on the rest of your life.

I spend more time than ever before in my life naked now. I often don’t bother to dress after my shower in the morning until it is time for my first client. So I do all the set up and watch my morning television and drink my morning coffee in the nude. I then put on my shorts, shirt and shoes so I am ready to receive my first client. If it is someone I have done nude massage with before, I undress again once they are in my apartment. I dress again when the session is over and see them out. I will then most likely undress again and jump in the shower again so I am as fresh as can be for the next client and repeat the process.

When my “work” day is over, I stay dressed from then on. I feel no need to frolic around naked in the evening when I have been naked most of the day. Now if my partner wants to get naked and have some fun, great! Otherwise, I will stay dressed. I even wear pajamas to bed these days. I never used to.

Even going to naked happy hour or staying at the clothing optional Bed and Breakfasts isn’t quite the same. It does not hold the titillation that it once did. I see naked people every day on my table. I see lots and lots of naked people. I am often naked with these naked people, this is my job. It kind of takes the fun out these social situations.

For example, I was at a clothing optional Bed and Breakfast this spring with some friends and my partner. I have been to this particular place before and often had a wonderful time. I still had a good time but it was so different. In the past the thought of running around naked and lying out naked and swimming naked and hot tubing naked was all quite exciting. I was being naughty. Everyone around me was being naughty. It was fun looking at the penises and the buttocks. It was fun looking at the guys looking at the other guys. I liked watching the guys just showing off or the timid ones so nervous that they would only flash themselves occasionally as if by accident “oops, my towel fell and my penis is showing.” My partner is often in that category. There is also the famous “my balls are sweating, excuse me while I scratch them” or “this book is so good it’s getting me aroused, hope it doesn’t bother you.”

However, this time I was there and got naked and sat in my lounge chair and actually read my book. Every so often I would remind myself that there is probably stuff to see if I look up and so I would, but often found myself wishing the new Harry Potter book was already out. There were boys there being very playful with each other and putting on quite a show, I hardly noticed and when I did, I turned away and went back to my book. Normally, when in the hot tub, it is always exciting to see who will show up and take a seat next to me. This time when a decent guy sat next to me and reached over, all that went through my head was “well, so much for enjoying the hot tub, I guess I will go back out and enjoy my book and let the rest of these guys enjoy each other.” Again, I want to emphasize that I had a good time, just a different time than in the past. I was not offended by the behavior of the others, quite the contrary, I thought it was cute. That’s right, I said cute. However, I was on vacation and I did not need to be aroused all day or naked all day (though I still was a lot of the time) or looking at other aroused naked men all day.

So are the days of me getting titillated by the mere presence of other naked men in social situations over? I am sure they are not. I still have a wicked sex drive and tend to like to orgasm at least once a day, and that will always be more pleasurable with someone else. There is just no longer any sense of urgency or the horrible fear that I will miss something exciting if I get wrapped up in my book or if I miss a naked happy hour.

In the course of my life, I have seen more erect penises than any one should. I have had my penis touched by more people than any one should. I have come to the understanding that quality is indeed better than quantity. I know that there will always be missed opportunities but better still there will be more opportunities should I choose to look for them. I am as comfortable naked as I think I could possibly be and think it is a shame that more people are not that comfortable. Of course there is something to be said about a little bit of mystery. Personally, if I could, I would wear a sarong around my waist with nothing under it at all times, but I doubt that style will ever be in vogue in the US.

While I was in Paris, I found the men there to be a lot more open about both sex and nudity. They have more than bar that is all nude, all the time. The bath houses have more men completely naked than men in towels. Even in the “seedy” video booths at an adult bookstore, the men strip naked. The men were also far more passionate within the context of anonymous sex. Not only were they naked, having sex with strangers in public, but they kissed and hugged and rubbed and caressed each other like secret lovers meeting briefly before they must return to their dull lives. If you have ever seen anonymous sex in an American bath house, it is barely sex. It is all about the penis and how quickly can they get off.

I am not sure where all this is heading. Has the internet made us so introverted that we fear connections with others all together? Is more or less nudity better? Are we headed for some strange puritanical time? If we are, I am quite certain that my business will pick up. The less we connect with those around us, the more likely people will look for those of us they can pay for some sort of physical connection.

- Jack